| Mr. J.P. Mead became the first
Conservator of Forests, Sarawak Forest Department, in 1919. The objectives
of the Department were to manage and conserve the State's forest resources.
With only a handful of staff then, the Department has developed into an
organization with a staff of about two thousand.
The initial responsibility
of the Forest Department included the constitution of the Permanent
Forest Estate and the regulation of the taking of forest produce. Responsibilities
have widened and new branches and units have evolved to include resource
planning, economics, forest engineering, forest and forest product research,
national parks and wild life conservation, law enforcement and preventive
work.
The Forest Department,
being a technical and scientific department, is concerned with forest
management, forest protection, the efficient and effective utilization
of the forest resources and the preservation and conservation of the
flora and fauna in the State. Based on a forest policy adopted in 1954,
the Forest Department mapped out a number of strategies for sustainable
forest management and forest conservation. The major strategies include:
- enlarging the Permanent
Forest Estate
- enforcing the Forests
Ordinance 1958 (Cap. 126), the National Parks and Nature Reserve Ordinance
1998, and the Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1998
- harvesting forests
selectively
- practising multiple-use
forestry
- undertaking applied
research in silviculture, ecology and forest operations
- establishing more
national parks, nature reserves and wildlife sanctuaries, and undertaking
a detailed resource inventory of these areas
- developing the infrastructure
and recreational facilities in national parks and nature reserves
to boost their tourism potential
- conducting long-term
research on protected wildlife species, conservation management of
hunted species and habitat management
- conducting research
to improve the utilization of timber
For further enquiry, please
contact us. |
